In July the Second Provisional Criminal Chamber of the Peruvian Supreme Court unexpectedly exonerated Yungay mayor Amaro León León, Marino Torre Camone, and Pedro Ángeles Figueroa, citing a lack of evidence. The three had been sentenced by a court in Ancash to 17 years in prison for the murder of journalist Antonio La Torre Echeandía. The ruling, which may not be appealed, left the journalists union in shock and on alert that press freedom is not safe in the court system.
The controversial ruling highlights the unconventional way in which cases are assigned to the various chambers of the Supreme Court, and comes at a time when other cases concerning journalists and the media are pending before it. Equally troubling are public statements by Justice Robinson Gonzales, lead judge for the above chamber, who claims he has been demonized by the press.
The Peruvian National Police and the Ministry of the Interior took measures to capture Moisés Julca Orrillo, boyfriend of the Yungay mayors daughter, who was charged with carrying out the murder of De la Torre and has been at large since the 2004 killing.
Dina Ramírez, the journalists widow, has filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and remains under police protection due to anonymous threats against her and her children ever since León Leónnow reinstated as mayor and seeking reelectionwas released.
Eagerly anticipated is the ruling by the same Supreme Court chamber on the appeals of the stiff sentences handed down by the Superior Court of Ucayali in the trial for the murder of journalist Alberto Rivera Fernández. In August, the chamber upheld the 30-year prison sentence against Erwin Pérez Pinedo and Ángel Mendoza Casanova for aggravated murder. It remains to be seen whether it will also uphold the 25-year prison sentences, also for aggravated murder, for journalists Martín Flores Vásquez and Roy Culqui Saurino, who were charged with acting as intermediaries in arranging the murder of Rivera.
The decision of the Supreme Court will influence the outcome of the second trial in the Rivera murder, which is currently under way in the Superior Court of Ucayali. Prosecutor Wilfredo Anticona has requested a 20-year sentence for Luis Valdez Villacorta, mayor of Coronel Portillo, and Solio Ramírez Garay, former lead judge of the First Civil Chamber of the Superior Court of Ucayali, who are on trial for masterminding the murder. A 25-year sentence has been requested for Lito Fasabi Pizango and Alex Panduro Ventura for carrying out the murder.
Also causing concern is the trial of journalist Mauricio Aguirre Corvalán for allegedly revealing state secrets during an interview with now-Congressman Carlos Raffo Arce on the news program Cuarto Poder on América Televisión. The program showed footage of National Defense Council meetings in 1998 where the armed conflict then unfolding between Peru and Ecuador was discussed. Although the footage had already been broadcast in President Fujimoris campaign ads, the court has been asked to sentence Aguirre to eight years in prison and order him to pay a fine of 600,000 sols. Between the time that this report was read and its approval by the Assembly, the Peruvian Supreme Court dismissed the case against Aguirre Corvalán.
In September, a chamber of the Superior Court of Lima opened oral proceedings against Aguirre Corvalán, Congressman Raffo, and former President Alberto Fujimori. With the congressman absent, the court inexplicably decided to postpone its ruling on lifting his parliamentary immunity, although it went ahead with the trial against the journalist.
A controversial ruling was handed down in the trial of journalist Edmundo Cruz Vilchez of the daily La República. Cruzs sentence was suspended for one year on the condition that his movements and behavior be restricted and that he pay a fine of 30 million sols. Cruz was on trial for an investigative piece titled Una mentira de un millón de onzas de oro (A lie worth a million ounces of gold), published on April 22, 2005, where he attempted to show the relationship between the heirs of Perciles Sánchez and the Algamarca mine in Cajamarca. The complaint by Sánchezs daughter did not question the main claims in the article, but objected to references to Perciles Sánchez Paredes as one of the ten biggest drug traffickers of the 1980s.
A conflict arose between the daily Correo del Lima and the chief justice of the Supreme Court over a report on nepotism that the chief justice publicly denied. All members of the Supreme Court backed the chief justice. The courts also opened a criminal case against reporter Humberto Ortiz, charging him with evidence tampering in connection with his investigation into the Almeyda-Villanueva case.
Another ruling was handed down against América Televisión, which was charged by the Second Anticorruption Chamber as a civilly liable third party in the trial against José Enrique Crousillat. Crousillat was convicted of conspiracy and embezzlement, sentenced to eight years in prison, and ordered to pay indemnification to the government of almost $50 million.
This ruling against América Televisión was imposed despite the fact that experts demonstrated during the trial that the bribe the government sent Crousillat through Montesinos never arrived at the media outlet. None of the current shareholders and executives, who rescued the station from insolvency, is among those who committed the crimes involved in the case, abusing the rights and benefits of use of the channel.
The numerous assaults, threats, and acts of violence against journalists and media outlets include the following:
On March 23, reporter Gudelia Gálvez Tafur and cameraman Moisés Cadillo Sánchez of the program Noticias en Red on Channel 13, along with reporter Élmer Ramírez Cosme and cameraman Rafael Ángeles Sauri of the program Confirmado Regional on Channel 7, were assaulted and had their equipment damaged by a group of peasants during a march to protest the Barrick Misquichilca mining company in Huaraz for allegedly polluting the environment.
On March 23, journalist Julio César Mendoza Escobar, host of the program El Matador on Radio MBR in Yurimaguas, Loreto, was assaulted in public by family members of Judge Judith Amelia Vela Domper, lead judge of the Second Combined Court in the province of Alto Amazonas, in retaliation for the reporters criticism of several of the judges rulings.
On April 3, América Televisión cameraman Jimmy Salinas was physically and verbally assaulted by Jorge Chávez Muñoz, a supporter of the Peruvian Nationalist Party, while filming a rally organized by National Unity presidential candidate Lourdes Flores Nano at a plaza in Arequipa.
On April 9, reporter Sebastián Rubio of the program La Ventana Indiscreta (The Indiscreet Window) on Frecuencia Latina was assaulted by an alleged supporter of nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala Tasso while covering elections in the San Isidro district.
On April 11, the Special Elections Board in San Martín issued Resolution 083-2006-JEE-SM/JNE, ordering the daily Al Día of Tarapoto to pay a fine of 102,000 sols for conducting an electoral poll on March 15 and reporting the results, even though the newspaper was not registered as an electoral polling entity with the National Board of Elections, as provided by regulation.
On April 12, journalist Máximo Silva Chávez of the news program HBO Noticias on Canal ATV in Tingo María, said he was briefly abducted, threatened, and physically assaulted by two unknown assailants who ordered him to stop using his program to question the actions of coca leaders in the area and nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala Tasso.
On April 20, some 700 protestors from the Arapa district forced their way into the facilities of Radio Sudamericana in the city of Juliaca, Puno, destroying broadcasting equipment and assaulting journalists. Moments earlier they had assaulted journalist Feliciano Sonco Puma of Radio Líder. The assailants were protesting the administration of the mayor of Arapa.
On April 30, anticorruption prosecutors opened an investigation into former President Alberto Fujimori for paying some 10 million dollars to the former chairman of the Board of Directors of Panamericana Televisión, Ernesto Schutz Landázuri, in exchange for supporting Fujimoris 2000 reelection campaign.
On May 10, reporter Melissa Peschiera and cameraman Gabriel Contreras of Frecuencia Latina were detained for 90 minutes for security reasons at Interpol offices in Santiago, Chile. They were preparing a report on abuse suffered by Peruvians living in Chile.
On May 10, José Enrique and José Francisco Crousillat, the former owners of América Televisión, were sent to the Prison for First-Time Offenders, formerly known as the San Jorge Prison. On April 18, the Argentine Supreme Court had approved their extradition to Peru, where they were facing trial for influencing the editorial line of América Televisión to favor the reelection of former President Alberto Fujimori in exchange for a hefty payoff.
On May 11, unknown individuals broke into the offices of the daily Correo de Ayacucho and took three computers, three digital cameras, two scanners, and three tape recorders, as well as materials from reporters investigative work.
On May 25, Frecuencia Latina reporter Henry Vásquez Limo said he had been arbitrarily detained by six technicians of the Peruvian Air Force in the city of Chiclayo, department of Lambayeque, as he was filming the moving of two officers injured when a Sukhoi SU-22 plane exploded during a training flight. Vásquez said his documents were confiscated and his video footage destroyed. Journalists Lorenzo Ayacta Tenorio of the daily La Industria in Chiclayo and Eduardo Riojas Ramírez, a correspondent for Panamericana Televisión in Chiclayo, were also assaulted in the incident.
On May 29, members of the Peruvian Aprista Party burst into the facilities of Radio Huarmey in Ancash, went to the broadcast booth, and assaulted journalist Eduardo Ganoza Cochachi, who at the time was hosting his program El Observador and questioning the violent behavior of Aprista supporters against a Nationalist Party leader.
On May 29, reporter Marco Villanueva Escobar of the newspaper Diario de Chimbote was detained by four Peruvian Navy officers under Commander César Martín Rojas Álvaro who claimed the journalist had entered a restricted area without authorization. The reporter was trying to photograph the unloading of anchovies during closed season along the Chimbote wharf in Ancash department.
On May 31, Isaías Ferry Valverde, the coach of Club Sport Ancash, forced his way into the radio broadcast booth in Rosa Pampas Stadium in the city of Huaraz, Ancash, and physically assaulted journalists Ipanaqué Hidalgo and Walter Maldonado Maguiña of Radio Melodía while they were calling a soccer match.
On June 28, journalist Elías Navarro of the magazine Línea Roja in Ayacucho reported receiving threats over the phone. He said the threats were related to his reporting on improperly handled funds at a local cooperative in Ayacucho department.
On June 28, cameramen and reporters from various media outlets who were covering a protest march against the free trade agreement between Peru and the United States were assaulted while trying to interview newly elected congresswomen and coca leaders Nancy Obregón and Elsa Malpartida.
On July 22, Judge Omar Ahumed of the Eighth Criminal Court in Lima dismissed the criminal libel case brought by ruling-party congressman Jorge Mufarech Nemy against Cecilia Valenzuela, host of the program La Ventana Indiscreta on Frecuencia Latina.
On July 24, Juan Alberto Silva Litano, a correspondent for Radio Cutivalú and host of the news program Contacto Informativo on Radio Turbo Mix in Paita, department of Piura, was physically assaulted by an unknown assailant angered by criticism of local authorities. Silva Litano sought protection after receiving a threatening message on his cell phone on July 25. That same day, Fidel Arturo Quintana Quezada, host of the news program Punto de Vista on Radio W of Paita, received a similar threat.
On July 28, reporters Armando Ávalos of Frecuencia Latina and Maribel Toledo of América Televisión were physically assaulted by the security guards of outgoing President Alejandro Toledo while covering the ceremony in Lima at which the next president of Peru officially took office.
On August 2, journalists Oscar Vílchez, Edwin Orrillo, and José Luis Gonzales of the program En la Mira on Channel 39 and Jaime Herrera Atalaya of Canal Cuatro Red Global in Cajamarca were freed after campesinos in the area had detained them for several hours. The journalists had been covering protests against the Yanacocha mining company.
On August 7, anticorruption prosecutors announced that they would ask Switzerland to prosecute Ernesto Schütz, the former owner of Panamericana Televisión, who has been living there since 2004. Schütz is facing charges in Peru for receiving 10 million dollars from former presidential adviser Vladimiro Montesinos in exchange for supporting the president.
On August 8, the Second Criminal Anticorruption Chamber of the Superior Court of Lima sentenced television mogul José Enrique Crousillat to eight years in prison for conspiracy to commit embezzlement. The court found that he had received 69 million sols from former presidential adviser Vladimiro Montesinos to influence the editorial line of América Televisión in favor of the former president. Crousillat was also ordered to pay a fine of 160 million sols and repay the ill-gotten gains. Though Crousillat sought a reduction of his sentence by making a sincere confession, he will have to remain in prison until January 2013. In addition, América Televisión was ruled to be a civilly liable third party and ordered to pay the court-ordered fine jointly with Crousillat and his son José Francisco. Defense attorneys for Channel 4 have appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court.
On August 24, Pedro Angulo Arana, head of a special unit for prosecuting corruption cases, asked the court to sentence journalist Humberto Ortiz Pajuero to four years in prison and pay a fine of 10,000 sols for tampering with evidence. After the journalist reported on an audio tape in which César Almeyda Tasayco, head of the National Intelligence Council, tried to extort General Oscar Villanueva for his ties to Vladimiro Montesinos, prosecutors accused the journalist of keeping the recording and attempting to sell it. Ortiz Pajuela, who has sought political asylum in the United States, has not attended the trial proceedings and has been declared in contempt.
On August 29, journalist José Luis Yomona Yjuma of the daily Ahora in Pucallpa, department of Ucayali, reported that he was being harassed for his investigative reporting in the newspaper Ahora on properties belonging to the provincial mayor of Coronel Portillo, Luis Valdez Villacorta.
With reference to the March report, Iván García, a representative of Channel 2 Frecuencia Latina, clarified that the reason journalist César Hildebrandt left the channel had nothing to do with internal pressure to favor a presidential candidate.
He also said that Channel 2 maintains unrestricted freedom of expression on all its news programs, including Mr. Hildebrandts, in an atmosphere of plurality and tolerance.
According to Channel 2, the journalists departure was a result of the continuous criticism of the stations executives and journalists that he expressed on his program.
He added that Channel 2 and César Hildebrandt resolved the matter on the basis of their contract, which was terminated by mutual agreement of both parties in a way that that satisfied the journalists economic requirements.
At the same time, Channel2 said the Peruvian governments payment to Baruch Ivcher for indemnification in compliance with a ruling by the Inter American court and an arbitration agreement under Peruvian laws did not adversely affect press freedom in any way.
next events
Madrid, Spain
